After the news that funding for the @NGI4eu initiative would be cut for the next phase of #HorizonEU, the @EU_Commission has expressed vague support for #FreeSoftware.
The EC needs to come up with dedicated budget for #FreeSoftware solutions:
Love this opening statement from CoCory doctorow -
"It's amazing how many of the scams that have devastated our economy and everyday people owe their success to the fact that we assume that rich people know what they're doing, so if they're doing something, it must be real."
https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/08/sucker-at-the-table/
Excellent new report by the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG): WasteX: Environmental harms of satellite internet mega-constellations https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/wastex-environmental-harms-of-satellite-internet-mega-constellations/
The report has great info on why 10s of thousands of throwaway satellites are terrible, and 2 powerful recommendations:
1. Pause launches until environmental reviews are done
2. Stop the categorical exclusion of satellites from environmental review
🗳️🇺🇸💪 USGSA (finally) posted a status update on Vote.gov today, in a blog post: https://www.gsa.gov/blog/2024/08/07/votegov-makes-it-easier-for-voters-to-find-trustworthy-official-voting-information
I finally got the official #funding confirmation from @PrototypeFund .
Time to gather the needed contacts before I begin with #libobscura next month!
#libobscura is going to be a proof of concept #linux #camera library which doesn't make the same mistakes as #libcamera . I'll base it on @martijnbraam 's work with #libmegapixels .
The United States has dropped to fifty-fifth place on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, the country's lowest-ever rank.
https://progressive.org/magazine/the-way-democracy-crumbles-whitney-20240807/
"Large mural near the Delaware River to remember Ben Fletcher and his union, IWW’s Local 8..."
Via @pmpress
I've started a free newsletter to showcase the best political journalism. No horse-race or both-sides BS. No poll stories, either.
It's journalism that illuminates what's at stake, what the candidates say they'll do, and who they are beyond the superficial gloss.
Here's yesterday's edition:
https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-august-7-2024/
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Send me links to journalism -- specific articles/videos etc -- that you think are right for this.
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Your privacy, your control. Librem 5: The only smartphone designed to protect your digital rights. True security, no backdoors, no tracking. #LibremPhone #DigitalFreedom #PureOS #Librem5
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forget axe-throwing parlors, I'm going to make it big in the middle-class-catharsis-entertainment scene by starting a chain of carnival-style shooting galleries where the targets are all stock-photo faces you see on banking / financial / HR websites. For an extra challenge, your peashooter will continually need to be unlocked by two-factor authentication and your field of vision will be recurrently blocked by swinging signs saying "you have 200 unread notifications"
The one time #Harris had to deviate from her scripted speech, she ends up scolding those calling for a ceasefire. There is not an iota of doubt that #KamalaHarris will be a better President than Trump. She will likely be very good for America's middle class and maybe even the working class. However what is good for America need not be good for the rest of the world.
GOOD NEWS: Earlier this year the requirement for US hospitals to report key COVID data to the federal government ended.
Thousands of activists submitted public comments to CMS, and now hospitals will be required to report key COVID, flu, and RSV hospitalization data again outside of public health emergencies.
Advocacy works!
In the 1980s, there were the "Atari Democrats," many of whom were ex-Republicans who gave up fighting in their party. In the 1990s, there were the neoliberals like former "Goldwater Girl" Hillary Clinton. Cable punditry and tony op-ed pages were overrun with them as well.
Fast forward to today and Democrats are being hounded constantly by whiners like David Brooks or Bret Stephens, commentators who represent no one and who have never been right about anything.
Biden the man doesn't matter so much anymore. He's one of the most privileged people in the world, and is as likely as anyone to be able to age with dignity.
Seeing people say, literally, that "his brain doesn't work", using that exact phrase, and offering no evidence beyond his having mixed up names, does matter.
And it matters to me *personally* because it tells me what I can expect as my movement slows down and my hair gets grayer.
#ShlaerMellor, #FunctionPointAnalysis, #punk, #environmentalist, #unionAdvocate, #anarchosocialist
"with a big old lie and a flag and a pie and a mom and a bible most folks are just liable to buy any line, any place, any time" - Frank Zappa